


Zigzag Heart

by Cozy_coffee



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Community: comment_fic, Family Feels, Gen, Hugs, Hurt Sam Winchester, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Dean Winchester, Weechesters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2019-11-12 11:24:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18010025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cozy_coffee/pseuds/Cozy_coffee
Summary: A fill for the comment_fic prompt; Any, Any/Any, "This Is It"





	Zigzag Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [squidgiepdx (squidgie)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/squidgie/gifts).



When Sammy was born, it was the happiest day of Dean’s life.

He smiled brightly as he looked into the eyes of his baby brother. Sammy was gurgling happily and smiling back at him with an adorable toothless dimpled grin, his big brown eyes gazing up at his brother with a look of wonder and awe. The little infant was happy as could be, enjoying the snuggly cuddles and cooing as he lay warm and cradled in the arms of his mother.

Dean could remember just a few weeks ago when Sammy wasn’t very happy—back when the baby was sick. Sam was so small, fragile and vulnerable, as he lay in his incubator.

Daddy and Mommy had said Sammy was like that because he was very sick. The incubator, or fish tank as Dean called it, was meant to help Sammy get better. Sam had been so ill that Dean was scared he was going to lose his new baby brother—a thought that scared him more than any boogeyman ever could.

But that was all in the past; Sammy got better with each passing day and he was now well and healthy, and strong like Dean and Daddy. Dean giggled as he watched Sammy. The baby had a tiny little hand wrapped snuggly around Dean’s fingers, and he was holding on with a surprisingly strong grip as he smiled happily. Sam also had a little hand embraced around John’s thumb; Dean thought Sammy’s hand was so amazingly tiny compared to his and daddy’s hand.

It didn’t matter that Sammy was little now, because Dean was certain that he would grow up to be big and strong. Weeks ago, the doctors had told his parents that Sammy wasn’t going to make it, but Dean didn’t believe them.

Sam would be alright—of that Dean was certain. He wouldn’t give up on his brother, not then, and not ever. When he told Sam that, the baby smiled at him with a heartfelt grin, as if Sammy understood the promise his brother made to him.

Sammy got better and was able to come home. They days were happy and joyful, however, sadly, the good times did not last.

Little Dean doesn’t like hugs anymore, not since the fire took Mommy.

Before, Mommy and Daddy were the only people who hugged him, mostly at night after he put on his Batman pajamas and brushed his teeth and it was bedtime. They would sweep him up into their arms and snuggle him like a teddy bear, and he felt a happy tingle in his tummy that made him joyfully giggle and smile brightly.

Now, everyone wants to hug him and he doesn’t like it.

The nurse at the hospital who smiled kindly as she enveloped him in her arms and sympathetically patted his back after she checked him for burns; He was unharmed because Daddy put Sammy into his arms and told him to take his brother outside and don’t look back and he had not been close to the fire. He had been saved. Mommy died. The nurse was nice, but she wasn’t mommy or daddy, and he did not like the hug.

The social worker who tries to take Sammy from his arms because she wants to talk to him alone, but he slaps her hand away and clings to Sammy; She gets the point--they will not be separated. Dean really, really doesn’t like her because she asks hurtful questions.

Did Daddy ever get mad at Mommy? Had Daddy and Mommy ever fought? Did Daddy ever hit Mommy, or wish to cause her harm? Dean tells the truth, no, because Daddy loved Mommy and he would never harm her. Daddy did not start the fire; he did not do this to Mommy.

She smiles and leans down to hug him, and she's hugging a little too hard and he just doesn’t like it at all.

The waitress at the diner who calls him cute and gives him extra sprinkles on his chocolate ice-cream, not for any reason other than he's holding his tiny baby brother and cuddling Sammy to his chest and protecting him as Daddy sits across the table smiling to keep from crying.

Dean eats his ice cream and he enjoys the yummy treat, it’s delicious, but afterwards she gives him a hug and sort of squishes Sammy between their bodies, and Sammy cries and pounds his tiny fists on Dean's chest, so Dean doesn’t like her because she hugged him and made his little brother cry.

The man named Bobby, who he knows nothing about, but Daddy seems to trust him, as if they share some secret he doesn’t know about. Bobby is a bit gruff and smells like whiskey, and he is kind and sympathetic, but his hug is awkward and nervous, like he's never been around children before and doesn’t know how to behave around two little wayward tots.

They stay at Bobby's for a few weeks and there is no more hugging, not even from Daddy. Daddy doesn’t sleep much; he spends a lot of time in Bobby's liberty, looking over old books and papers. He is really busy most of the time, so Dean keeps Sammy occupied.

In the living room, Dean was bouncing a ball across the floor and Rumsfeld was chasing it. Sammy was lying on the bundle of blankets Dean had made for him, safely cushioned between two pillows to keep him from rolling over and maybe getting hurt.

The baby was happy gurgling and watching as the dog chased after the ball, but when the ball rolled a little too close to Sammy the hulking beast ran right for him, charging at the ball with snapping jaws.

Sammy was tiny and the sight of a big beast running at him frightened him; he suddenly began wailing, his chubby cheeks streaked with tears as he flailed his tiny fists in the air. Rumsfeld tucked tail and ran out of the room, somehow knowing he was going to get in trouble for making the little human baby cry.

“Sammy, shhh,” Dean soothed, reaching over and gently picking the baby up and cradling him against his chest. “Don’t cry, Sammy. Rumsfeld won’t hurt you. As long as I'm around, nothing bad is gonna happen to you.”

Sammy cooed softly, sniffling, and to Dean’s surprise, he stopped crying. The baby closed his eyes and gripped Dean’s shirt with his tiny fists, cooing softly as his big brother gently rocked him. Sitting on the floor with Sammy in his arms, Dean snuggled the baby to his chest. Sammy nuzzled his chest, and for the first time in a long time, Dean thought maybe hugs weren’t so bad after all.

It would be a few years later that Dean’s promise would be put to the test. 

It was a sunny day in summer when it happened suddenly, out of the blue. One moment everything was fine and dandy and the next his baby brother was hurt. Sammy was playing on the monkey bars, skillfully swinging from one to the other, when he lost his grip and took a tumble down to the wood chips below. He grits out a sorrowful whimper that nearly breaks Dean’s chest.

Dean was close by, but not enough to stop Sammy from falling. His head jerks up, green eyes widening when he saw ruby red blood smeared across Sammy's knee. Sam is already rising to his feet, his brow furrows as he stands on unsteady legs and go tumbling back down, landing in a heap on the rough wood chips. Sam’s body shuddered as the pain in his knee throbbed.

He is not a crybaby, but the skin is raw and the wound hurts; he sniffles, bottom lip quivering, the big crocodile tears are trying to tumble down his cheeks, but he quickly brushes them away.

He is a big boy, like his brother. He is not going to cry. Only he does. The tears streak down his face as he holds his injured leg, his babyish face gazing sadly at his scraped knee. Dean jumps off the swing in a heartbeat, running across the playground and throwing himself onto the ground next to Sam. He dirtied his jeans, but that doesn’t matter. Sammy is hurt. His brother needs him.

Scooping his little sibling up into his arms, Dean quickly rushes back into the motel across the street. Sammy's got that puppy-dog look on his boyish cute face, and he won’t let go of Dean’s shirt when he tries to set him on the bed, so Dean has to gently pry Sam's fingers free of his faded batman hand-me-down shirt.

“It’s okay, Sammy,” Dean promises, gently brushing a kiss to his brother’s forehead. He reaches out with one hand and gently strokes Sam’s hair out of his eyes while the little boy sniffles softly and looks up at him with big, sad damp puppy dog eyes. “Just sit here, I'll get the first aid box.”

“It hurts, Dee.” A puppy dog whine and big sad eyes meet him, breaking Dean's heart. The few cuts on his knee sting; just looking at the wound makes Dean winces. “I know buddy. Just sit tight; I’m going to patch you up and you'll be good as new.” Dean assures, leaning down to press a kiss to Sam’s forehead.

Sammy breathes out, closes his eyes, Dean can seem his tense body beginning to relax now that Dean has promised him everything is going to be okay. Dean is a good big brother; he never breaks a promise.

The first aid kit is stocked with all the tools Dean will need. Sammy is a big brave boy; he chews on his bottom lip, only whining once when Dean rubbed the medication on his sore knee. With a batman bandaged in place, Sammy is patched up, and Dean barely realizes what is happening before Sam is hugging him tightly, declaring “You’re the best big brother in the whole wide world!”

Dean hugs Sam tightly, smiling. It is his job to keep Sammy safe, dad said so, and that is not a responsibility he takes lightly.

♥ END ♥

**Author's Note:**

> [Written for this prompt!](https://comment-fic.livejournal.com/998199.html?thread=110889527#t110889527)


End file.
